Art of continuous distillation of hydrocarbon oils



Oct. 4,1927.

J. R. CARRINGER ART OF CONTINUOUS DISTILLATION OF HYDROCARBON OILS Filed May 6, 1921 Z J 9 w 1 x Ty F 44 J I 5 nd 5 T 4% x g 6 f 7r|| Patented Oct. 4, 1927.

' UNITED. S ATES 1,644,324 PATENT OFFICE.

. JAMES RAY CARRINGEB, OF ELI EZABETH, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOB TO STANDARD DI- V'ELOPMENT COMPANY, A COItPORATION OF DELAWARE.

ART OF CONTINUOUS DISTILLATION OF HYDROOARIBON OILS.

Application filed May 6,

The present invention relates to improvements 1n the art of the continuous distillation of etroleum oils. and will be fully understood from the followingdescription,

5 illustrated by the accompanying drawing,

which shows a diagrammatic plan view, partially broken away, of a portion of a battery of continuous stills.

I In the drawing the numerals 24.23. 22, 13

indicate successive stills in a battery. the gap between 22 and 13 indicating the stills in the battery not shown in the drawing between stills 13 and 22. The oil to be distilled, for example. a crude oil, and preferably pre- 15 heated as hereinafter described. enters still 24 through pipe 25. and flows from still 24 through the successive stills with decreasing numerals through pipes 26. The oil is subjected in the successive stills to progressively increasing temperatures. Steam may. if desired, be introduced in the stills through pipes 27.

From all of the stills preferably with the exception of still 24 as shown vapor lines 28 lead the issuing vapors to expansion drums 29. From the tops of the expansion drums vapor lines 30 lead to.heat exchangers 31 and from the heat exchangers vapor lines 32 lead to fractional condensers 33, for exam- 30 ple. of the air tube type. From the top of the air condensers lines 34 lead to the light worms or condensers 35, from which the lines 36 lead to suitable collectors (not shown). Condensates formed in the air cooler or fractional condenser 33 are led through pipes 37 to the cooling worms 38, known as intermediate worms and from these the cooled products are led to suitable collectors through pipes 39. Run-back lines 40 40 are provided for these stills. these lines being likewise connected to the cooling worms 41. or heavy worms. Valved pipes 42 lead the condensates from the heat exchangers 31 to the run-back lines 40 and pipes 43 lead the condensates from the expansion drums 29 to the run-back lines 40. Control valves 44 in the run-back lines 40 enable the products condensed in the heat exchangers and expansion drums to be re turned to the still or passed-to the heavy worms 41 for cooling. From each line 34- excepting the firstbet.ween the top of the fractional condenser 33 and the condenser 35 connecting vapor pipes 45 lead into a com mon pipe 46, which may be designated as 1921. Serial No. 467,456.

the equalizing pipe. This is a closed pipe communicating at one end with the line 47 leading into the heavy worm 48 of still 23. The line 47 in the construction illustrated corresponds to the line 40 of the stills succeeding still 23. The line 46 is to take care of the excess pressure only. It will be understood that normally the vapors from the light worm do not flow into it to any considerable degree.

Still 24. in which the more volatile products are driven ofl. is provided with a vapor pipe 49 leading directly to a fractional condenser 50 of substantially the same type as the fractional condensers 33, if desired.

vFrom the condenser 50 vapor products pass off through the pipe 51 to the condenser 52 and condensed products pass off through pipes 53 and cooler 54. Crude oil may be fed directly into still 24, or, if desired, may be pre-heated by feeding it from main 55, through pipes 56, heat exchangers 31 and pipes 57 to the main or pipe 58. from which the heated crude oil is supplied through pipe 25 to still 24.

The oil flows in succession through the stills, the successive stills operating at higher temperatures. The light worms of the stills succeeding still 23 communicate with the equalizing line 46, thereby equalizing the vapor pressure throughout the battery and preventing inequalities of flow of the oil being distilled. The line 46 may be connected with the heavy worm 48 of still 23, in which case the valves on the run-back line of that still may be set to return to it any condensates from the expansion drum and the heat exchanger, although this is not necessary. Any condensate formed in the heavy worm may be collected and re-run, as desired. It is. of course. apparent that the pipe or line 46 may be connected to an independent worm or condenser.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with the details-of a specific embodiment thereof, it is not intended that these details shall be regarded as limitations upon the scope of the invention except insofar as included in the accompanying claims.

I claim:

1. In a battery of continuous stills, a pluralitv of stills arranged in series, a fractiona-l condenser connected to each still, a

plurality of condensers, means for conducting vapors from the fractional condensers thereto, a common pressure equalizing chamber, means for establishing communication between the vapor spaces of the fractional condensers of the stills and the pressure equalizing chamber and means for flowing oil through the stills in succession.

2. In a battery of continuous stills, a plurality of stills arranged in series, a fractional condenser connected to each still, a plurality of condensers, means for conducting vapors from the fractional condensers thereto, a common vapor pressure equalizing chamber, means for establishing communication between the vapor spaces of the fractional condensers of the stills and the pressure equalizing chamber, means for introducing oil into thefirst of said stills, and means for connecting the successive stills to permit flowvof oil therebetween.

JAMES RAY CARRINGER. 

